What would remind me most of Skipper would be an over-hyper leprechaun that has an obsession with jumping and pushing things over with his head. Skipper is just like a leprechaun because he is short, wears a little green sweater, er, used to, and has a magical personality.
My friends and I were all sitting at one of the many picnic tables that dotted the front schoolyard. We were playing one of our favorite games, Sweet or Sour when a group of puppies came up. I immediately knew I had to have one. I ran to the office and asked if I could call my mom. With a positive answer I called my mom and pleaded until she said I could have him. I was thrilled when she pulled up to the school to come and get me and Skipper. We took him to the vet the following Monday to find out he was a mixture between a Dotson and a Chihuahua, or as some people say, chaweenie. He was five months old(now eight) and (still) had a copper orange-ish coat. Also he is a great protector.
We found this out when he rescued me from the big, black dog next door. Here’s the story to it. It was one of the most beautiful weekends we’ve had since school started. But… there was nothing to do! I decided to bring Skipper out to the bank (since we lived on the creek) to look for a new type of fish I hadn’t yet discovered. We were in the middle of a little game I like to call, and it’s sort of bland but it’s called … Throw slabs of rock into the mud and make a path and walk as far as you can without sinking. Tada! Well, we were in the middle of that when I heard our neighbors old Ford pull up into their gravel driveway. He had just come back from the animal shelter to purchase a new pet since his former dog had died the summer before. I watched as the dog bucked and tugged away at the leash while our neighbor hauled him toward a pole jutting out in the middle of the yard. As our neighbor tied the dog around the pole he started to calm down. That’s when I got to get a good look at him. He was definitely a monstrosity for the neighborhood. With long arms and a tail constantly wagging back and forth, back and forth like a sonar satellite. His eyes were a menacing black; it was like I was looking into the eyes of the devil himself. His paws were as big as a soccer-ball, repeatedly patting at the ground. As I looked along the base of his body I saw his muscles tense and the hair on the back of his spine stick straight up in the air. I looked at straight at his face as he pulled from the chains and barreled towards me in lightning speed I pushed Skipper off of me and tried to run but was stunned still as the beast ran only a few feet from me. Skipper didn’t like this, he felt that I was scared and jumped in between me and the beast at the last minute. Luckily, the beast stopped because if he didn’t Skipper would have been squished like mashed potatoes. Skipper started attacking him with snaps and clips of the teeth until the beast finally ran away. After that day I never underestimated Skipper about his size or his timidly happy personality. I never even worried about him, even when he almost got carried off by a buzzard while napping on the beach. But that’s another story.